 |
| 100,000 English cannot control 350 million Indians. |
Directors
weigh in on using quotations…
David: Biopics are a reconstruction of a
person’s life. So the dialog is also a reconstruction.
 |
| We are governed by people who care more about feelings than thoughts or ideas. |
Stephen: So Gandhi didn’t actually say,
“100,000 Englishmen simply cannot control 350 million Indians, if those Indians
refuse to cooperate."
David: Sometimes a good scriptwriter can
summarize a hero’s thoughts.
Stephen: And sometimes the hero, or heroine, is
a source of direct quotes. Margaret Thatcher actually wrote, “We
are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts
and ideas.” So in Iron Lady, we had Meryl Streep say that.
__________
Voice-over
A quote can be disputed (there is an argument
over whether the speaker actually said or wrote it). Or it can be misattributed
(somebody else actually said it or wrote it).
The Gandhi line is a quote we might wish he’d
said, even if he didn’t.
And the Thatcher quote can be found in her autobiography.
It is not disputed, misattributed or a line we might wish she’d said or
written.
...
